Scrap Gold Postal Investigation

At long last OFT (office of fair trading) are to investigate 5 postal gold companies that are paying the public rates that have been said to be "shockingly bad value". There have been report that some companies are paying as low as 5% of the market value. Hopefully this will sort out the real companies from the scamming ones. Remember when choosing a gold buying company check that they are VAT registered and are also registered with Companies House. If a company has filed account you can they tell that they have been trading for a while and are not just here due to the gold rush.

This form of unfair trading has been brought to the attention of OFT by Which Magazine.

With the current economic climate now leaving more and more consumers desperate for the "quick cash deal" many scrap gold sellers are falling into what looks like an easy option. Be aware what looks to good to be true normally is.

Many of the websites offer deals that are accompanied by Glitzy Commercials, Full Page Spreads, Celebrity Backing for web and info commercials. What you MUST remember this all comes at a cost and this has to be recovered by the companies, This only means lower prices for you the consumer.

See what our customer say on the Money Saving Expert forum. Click Here
The forum is not moderated by us so this gives you a true idea of what peple really think.

Please use the links below to see what other sites such as the BBC, The Times and Which Magazine have to say.

Telegraph - Click Here

BBC - Click Here

Which - Click Here

Which (report 2) - Click Here

Office Of Fair Trading - (report 1) Click Here

Office Of Fair Trading -(report 2) Click Here

Things to Consider Before You Sell Your Gold

1) Make sure that you are being paid a fair price for your scrap gold. Always use a website that is displaying the days goldfixes and also the rates you will receive. Many sites offer a price and then in the small print have hidden refining charges or scrappage charges. Make sure the company you choose does not have these hidden fees.

You can get a good indication of the likely to be paid for your scrap gold buy checking out websites that advertise their prices. Most of the well established companies have calculators and scrap gold prices on full view directly on their websites. Also make sure that the company you deal with are fully VAT registered and are registered with Companies House. Any company dealing with this ammount of scrap precious metal MUST be VAT registered.

2) Think about the offers open to you the customer and do the extra offers made to you by the chosen company actually work out best for you.

Websites that run prime time TV adverts, advertise full page spreads in national newspapers and offer over 100% for your scrap gold have to recoup their investment from somewhere, Be aware that it is almost impossible for any scrap gold dealer to buy gold at over the Gold Fix price and is not common practice within the scrap gold industry.

3) Think about how you send your scrap gold, Via Royal Mail Special Delivery, Courier or any other postal carrier

Remember your items are valuable and your probably in need of the cash, So ALWAYS send your gold via an insured service.